Quick Time Files from G5 Don't Play on Intel Mac

Texture

Texture

Well-known member
Strange, I've got HD clips I bring over from my G5 w/Mac OS 10.3.9 and try to play on my intel based MacBook Pro or iBook w/Mac OS 10.4.10 and the files won't play in QT 7.1.6 on either laptop. QT comes up with a message saying that I'm missing a plugin. But these are files that were freshly digitized with FCP and play fine on the G5... HMMM what gives?
 
What codec are they?
If, for example, they are DVCProHD files and you don't have those codecs installed on your laptop - then it makes sense why they wouldn't play.

Do you have FCP installed on the laptops that won't play the clips back?
 
No, I don't have FCP installed on the intel laptops. We don't have the universal version of FCP. I use the laptops for writing music and photography. I'll probably never install FCP on these.

Interesting, I can play fest mpeg4 files fine, wait... OK did a "get info", YES they are as you say, DVCProHD files. Thanks Luis , I'll look for this codec at the Quicktime Plugins page.

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OK, just went there, but there is no place to easily find this codec. OK, I'm thinking what if I buy QT Pro 7. They claim it contains the codecs listed below, including DV & DVC Pro NTSC which I'd assume contains DVCProHD. Will give it a shot.
  • Animation
  • Apple BMP
  • Apple Pixlet (Mac OS X v10.3 only)
  • Apple Video
  • Cinepak
  • Component video
  • DV and DVC Pro NTSC
  • DV PAL
  • DVC Pro PAL
  • Graphics
  • H.261
  • H.263
  • H.264
  • JPEG 2000
  • Microsoft OLE (decode only)
  • Microsoft Video 1 (decode only)
  • Motion JPEG A
  • Motion JPEG B
  • MPEG-4 (Part 2)
  • Photo JPEG
  • Planar RGB
  • PNG
  • Sorenson Video 2
  • Sorenson Video 3
  • TGA
  • TIFF
 
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CaptainMench said:
That would be an incorrect assumption!!

CaptM
Click to expand...

Yea, NTSC is not HD... OK did a search and found DVCproHD 1.1 This was posted on the Apple site in June 2004. Hmmm, I can't imagine this is the latest version; no updates since then? Another search yields nothing but 1.1 . Notes from the Apples site below. Here goes nothin'! I'm gonna try it, even though this is an intel mac I'm using... What to do??

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OK, I installed it and restarted the MacBook Pro... Great, big yip. I still get a message from Quicktime that I'm missing a plugin, though the blank screen file at least plays audio, which it didn't do before.

Sigh... Any ideas?


About DVCProHD Components 1.1
All users of Panasonic AJ-HD1200A VTRs should install the latest revision of the DVCPROHD components (1.1). This updater only updates QuickTime components used by Final Cut Pro HD. It does not update the Final Cut Pro HD (version 4.5) application.

Before You Install
Make sure you do the following before you install the software:
- Install or upgrade to Final Cut Pro HD (version 4.5) if it is not already installed on your computer.
- Upgrade to Mac OS X v10.3.4 or later and QuickTime 6.5 or later.
- Quit Final Cut Pro HD.

After You Install
-Restart your computer.
-Open Final Cut Pro HD.
 
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CaptainMench said:
How about just upgrading from QT7.1 to 7.2??

CaptM
Click to expand...

Will give it a try. :)

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OK, doesn't work. And now I see I've got two file types that won't play. HDV & DVCproHD. I erased the above mentioned DVCproHD 1.1 components (non-intel) from the laptop and still only audio plays, so i guess it always did and I missed that.

So I'll try QT Pro. Damn, I really don't want to have to install FCP on these laptops to get these things to play. Worked just fine with ordinary QT on my G5s, one without FCP or QTpro. Here goes QT Pro.


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Bought QT Pro and received the serial number to unlock the QT Pro capabilities hidden within ordinary QT. INVALID SERIAL NUMBER... Tried several times. Time to go to the beach... Stay tuned!!!
 
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OK, So I guess it took a while for Apple to register the serial number they issued me.

Finally, my QT Pro 7.2 is working, but alas, it still won't play HDV or DVCpro HD files.

So, I'm leaving my MacBook Pro for a moment to look inside the following folder on my G5. What plugins are there that I don't have on my MacBook Pro?

Boot Disk > Library > Quicktime

AppleHDVCodec.component
DVCPROHDCodec.component
DVCPROHDMuxer.component
DVCPROHDVideoDigitizer.component
DVCPROHDVideoOutput.component
DVCPROHDVideoOutputClock.component
DVCPROHDVideoOutputCodec.component

So what gives?

Do I have to buy the new universal version of FCP, so I can have these codecs on my intel MacBook Pro? There seems to be no place to aquire them on the Apple site and the folks at the Genius Bar at my local Mac Store could offer no suggestions except to buy the new version of FCP.

Any clues as to how I can obtain these codecs?
 
Except that the codec DVCproHD codec is on FCP 5, so that doesn't make much sense.
And the master I made for you was made on FCP 5, not 6.
So you should not have to upgade to FCP six just to play DVCproHD in a QT wrapper.
 
Yea, this is weird, I first noticed this with the DVCpro HD Master file you gave me. I knew about it a couple of months before I sent that e-mail to you about it.

Now that Joan and I are digitizing HV-20 footage, I tried bringing the digitized HDV over to the MacBook Pro from her G5 and those won't play either. So I can't view them in any application that uses Quicktime, whether iTunes, or MOTU's Digital Performer.

Sigh... :undecided
 
Wait ... do you have FCP 5.1 installed on your laptop?

I was assuming you did since there are only two intel versions of FCP, 5.1 and 6.

To answer your previous post, yes you do have to have some version of FCP installed to run DVCproHD Quicktime Files on your mac, be it intel or otherwise.

But I think you are making a problem for yoursel because you are using what is supposed to be the master as an end product, which it in not necessarliy intended to be. Use it as a master and not a final file to play and you will not create this problem for yourself.

Meaning ... the file I made for you is a MASTER, not a file that is supposed to be able to play on everyone's system. I used the native codec that it was shot in and edited on to keep the size down without "additional" compression.

If you want to watch an HD version on your laptop, and do not have any version of FCP installed there, the solution is simple:
Open it in Compressor on your G5
Make a High Quality H.264 QuickTime file of the movie.
That is what the MASTER is for, to make copies that play on a wide variety of platforms.

So to sum up, no, you cannot just download those codecs for QT, you have to have FCP installed.

And, rather than by FCP for you laptop, use the MASTER to make a copy via Compressor that will play on your laptop, or any one else's machine that has QT installed, i.e., use a codec that is designed to be somewhat cross platform - H.264, not DVCproHD.
 
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